254 



CROWS, JAYS, ETC. 



Crows and Jays exhibit marked traits of character and are [assessed 

 of unusual intelligence. Some systematists place them at the top of 

 the Avian tree, and, if their mental development be taken into con- 

 sideration, they have undoubted claims to this high rank. 



KKV TO THE 8PECIE8. 



A. Pluinafje black. 



a. Winjif ubout ITj-OO; bill over 2'i')0 486a. Raven. 



b. Wing about 13-00; bill about 2-00. 



488. Am. Ckow. 488a. Florida Crow. 



c. Wing about 11-00; bill about 1-50 490. Fish Crow. 



B. IMumage bluLsh or grayish. 



a. Back blue ; tail tipped with white ; a black breast-patch. 



4T7. BuE Jay. 477a. Florida Blue -Tav. 



b. Back bluish gray; tail not tii)ped with white; throat and breast indis- 

 tinctly streaked with whitish 47U. Florida Jav. 



c. Back gray ; back of head and nape blackish ; forehead wliitish. 



484. Canada Jav. 484c. Labrador Jay. 



477. Cyanocitta cristata (Linn.). Bli-e Jay. (Sec Fig. 44, a.) 

 Ad. — Upper parts grayish blue; under parts dusky wliitish, wliitcr on the 

 throat and belly ; forehead, and a band passing across the back of the Jiead 

 down the sides of the neck and across the breast, black ; liead crested ; ex- 

 posed surface of wings blue, tlie greater wing-coverts and secondaries barred 

 with black and tipjted with white ; tail blue, all but the outer feathers barred 

 with black, and all but the middle pair broadly tipped with white, this white 

 tip rarely less than 1-00 in width on the outer feather. L., 1174; W., 5-14; 

 T., 5-19; B., 1-04. 



Range. — Eastern Nortli America ; breeds from Florida to Newfoundland ; 

 generally resident throughout its range. 



Washington, rather rare P. R., common T. V., Apl. 28 to May 15; Sept. 15 

 to Oct. 15. Sing Sing, tolerably common P. R. Cambridge, common P. R., 

 abundant T. V., Apl. and May ; Sept. and Oct. 



Nest, of rootlets, compactly interwoven, generally in a tree crotch fifteen 

 to twenty feet up. E(j(js, four to six, pale olive green or brownish ashy, rather 

 thickly marked with distinct or obscure spots of varying shades of cinnainou- 

 brown, 1-10 x -85. 



The Bine Jay, I fear, is a reprobate, but, notwithstanding his fond- 

 ness for eggs and nestlings, and his evident joy in worrying other 

 birds, there is a dashing, reckless air about him which makes us par- 

 don his faults and like him in spite of ourselyes. 



Like many men, he needs the inspiration of congenial company to 

 bring out the social side of his disposition. Household duties may 

 perhaps absorb him, but certain it is that when at home he is very dif- 

 ferent from the noisy fellow who, with equally noisy comrader roams 

 the woods in the fall. 



How his Jay, Jay rings out on the frosty morning air! It is a sig- 



